Frances has adapted eight books for the stage, all of which were originally produced at Chicago’s Lifeline Theatre, where she is a member of the artistic ensemble. With Arnie collaborator George Howe, she created two other one-hour family musicals: The Emperor’s Groovy New Clothes based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson, and Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatchbased on the book by Eileen Spinelli. She is also the adaptor of a popular series of plays based on novels by the British mystery novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, including Whose Body?, Strong Poison (Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Adaptation), Gaudy Night(Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Adaptation), and Busman’s Honeymoon. Frances is also an actor and director. She graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a BFA in theatre performance and an emphasis in directing. Her plays have been produced by The Cleveland Playhouse, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Taproot Theatre in Seattle, and Chicago Theatre on the Lake.

George Howe is a Jeff Citation Winner (Queen Lucia - Best New Musical 2006) and multiple After Dark Award winning composer/lyricist/cabaret artist. He has composed the scores for many of Lifeline Theatre’s KidSeries musicals, including The Emperor’s Groovy New Clothes; Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile; Brave Potatoes; Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch; and four musicals by author Doreen Cronin: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type; Giggle, Giggle, Quack; Duck For President; and Dooby Dooby Moo. His Giggle, Giggle, Quack is currently on a national tour with Dallas Children’s Theater.

Adam Arian returns to NYMF this summer after directing 2009's audience favorite runner up, Fantasy Football the Musical.  He is currently the Associate Director, of the 1st National Tour of "Memphis," was the 2010 Geva Theater Center Directing Fellow, and won the 2009 Patte Award for Outstanding Direction in San Diego. His work has been seen at Geva Theater; HERE; Prospect Theater Co.; Chalk Rep; Iama Theater Co.; NY Fringe Fest; Reverie Productions; Winnipesaukee Playhouse; Williamstown; and the La Jolla Playhouse.  He has his MFA in directing from UCSD. Adam has also performed for years as an actor, some favorite credits include: The Off Broadway productions of The Bomb-itty of Errors; and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, The national tour of The Scarlet Pimpernel,  regionally at the Trinity Repertory Company, the La Jolla Playhouse and the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival and on Television on Law and Order.  He is a member of AEA and SAG.

Off-Broadway: With Glee, Evil Dead: The Musical, Captain Louie.  Regional: Meadow Brook Theatre (most recently Xanadu), Weston Playhouse (nine seasons), Barnstormers, CenterStage, Gateway. Many new musicals in NYC, including Peter Mills’s Illyria, Honor, Iron Curtain, and The Pursuit of Persephone (Drama Desk nom. for Orchestrations); Yank! at Gallery, Ragtime at APAC, Fleet Week at FringeNYC, Maccabeat! at NYMF 2007.  Dan is a San Francisco native, Princeton graduate, and three-time winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Lisa Dozier is happy to be joining this delicious team. Her recent credits include: Milk (New Georges, HERE Arts Center), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (3LD), The Duchess of Malfi (Red Bull Theater), How to be a Good Italian Daughter (Cherry Lane), F#@king Up Everything (NYMF), My Illustrious Wasteland (NYMF), Into the Hazard (Henry 5) (Walkerspace), In Security (3LD), Stormy Weather (Pasadena Playhouse: asst. director), The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (Theatre Row/Stage 13), To Paint the Earth (NYMF), I Come For Love (NYMF), SA KA LA (45 Bleecker/Oslo Elsewhere), Jeffrey Hatcher’s Murderers (Emelin), The Piper (NYMF), Surface to Air (Symphony Space), The Polish Play (Walkerspace), Character (Prospect), Warrior (NYMF), Behind the Limelight (NYMF), Hot and Sweet (NYMF), Ibsen + Fosse 2006 with Oslo Elsewhere at 59E59: Rosmersholm and deathvariations, Manhattan Madcaps of 1924, Jeff Daniels’ Apartment 3A, The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde (NYMF). Previously, she was the associate producer at Symphony Space and on the artistic staff at Manhattan Theatre Club (Doubt, Reckless, Rabbit Hole, Brooklyn Boy, etc.). She has also worked at the New 42nd Street, Symphony Space, American Repertory Theatre and New York Stage & Film. Lisa is the Midtown International Theatre Festival’s artistic director of plays, and the general manager for National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals.

Even Rybnick (Assistant General Manager) is excited to be returning to her 5th season with NYMF. Previous NYMF credits include Jerusalem Syndrome, Judas and Me, Nighttime Traffic, Outlaws, TUT, and My History of Marriage. Current Projects: Unplugged In and Scheme of the Super Bullies. She has worked on several productions as a General Manager/Line Producer and has worked with several theater organizations in New York including the York Theatre, Samuel French, HERE Arts, and PS122. Eve is also the host and producer of a new food and drink web-series, Table4One. She is a frequent collaborator with Lisa Dozier and is excited to be working with her again. Graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Doughnut enthusiast.

Greg is delighted to get to work on this sweet musical. Recent favorite projects include off-bway productions of Tempest Tossed (Classic Stage Company/Continuum Company), In the Mind of Jim Jones (J. Kyles Korner, 37 Arts), The Actors Rap (Baruch Performing Arts).  Elsewhere: The Tempest (Brave New World on the Coney Island Boardwalk), Storytellers:TI (Art Director VH1), Fahrenheit 451 (BNW/Celebrate Brooklyn), A Christmas Carol (Perseverance Theatre Co, Alaska), and the upcoming Wizard of Oz (Iao Theatre, Maui).  Greg teaches theatre design at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, has been nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Design, and has a MFA from NYU-Tisch.

Elizabeth Wislar is the owner of Chicago Custom Costumes, Inc in Chicago, IL.  She has designed over 100 shows and built more than 50 productions in the Chicago area in collaboration with many of the prevailing theaters, opera companies and local universities. Elizabeth graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, BA/BFA, cum laude, and earned an MFAin Costume Design and Technology from Pennsylvania State University. She spent 5 years (1996-1999, 2002) as the Assistant Designer/Head Draper for the annual Baroque Handel Opera Festival in Göttingen, Germany. She is the 2004 recipient of the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award, A Chicago After Dark Costume Design Award for Design for Living and a Joseph Jefferson Award for An Ideal Husband, both with Circle Theater, and another for Queen Lucia with Lifeline Theater, as well as multiple nominations. To see more of her work, please visit www.chicagocustomcostumes.com

Off-Broadway sound design: Cassie’s Chimera at Joe’s Pub (The Public); The Bluest Eye with Steppenwolf at The Duke Theatre; Ophelia at the NYC Fringe Fest; The God of Hell at the Actor’s Studio (Associate); Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams at Primary Stages (Associate); Live Girls at Urban Stages (Associate); Luminescence Dating at Ensemble Studio Theatre (Associate); and Boy at Primary Stages (Associate). Regionally she has worked with The Goodman, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens, Northlight Theatre, LA Theatre Works, CenterStage Baltimore, Indiana Repertory, Syracuse Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Florida Stage, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, First Stage Milwaukee, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Renaissance TheatreWorks, Peninsula Players, Birmingham Childrens’ Theatre, People’s Light and Theatre, and Geva Theatre. In Chicago she has designed productions with Writers’ Theatre, The Next Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Lifeline, Light Opera Works, and many other storefront theaters. She is the first woman to have been nominated for 10 Joseph Jefferson Awards - winning 6 - and she has received 2 After Dark Awards. Victoria is the head of Sound Design for The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Jamibeth Margolis is now entering her 17th year as a professional casting director in New York. She was with Johnson-Liff Casting, Cameron Mackintosh, and Margolis-Seay Casting and is now out on her own as a freelance casting director. Previous credits include the Broadway and National Touring Companies of LES MISERABLES, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, MISS SAIGON, and CATS as well as many other shows on Broadway, Off Broadway, National Touring Companies and shows for prominent regional theaters. Jamibeth is a member of the Casting Society of America. Currently, she is casting many new plays and musicals in development for commercial productions including CENTRAL AVENUE BREAKDOWN, REVISITING WILDFIRE and WARSAW and is dedicated to developing new works. Other current projects include SISTAS (running Off Broadway at St. Luke’s). She is thrilled to be working with the amazing creative team of ARNIE THE DOUGHNUT!

New York & International Tour); ShuffleCulture starring Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Brooklyn Academy of Music); Lear Dreaming (TheatreWorks Singapore for the 2012 Singapore Arts Festival), The Continuum; Beyond the killings fields (TheatreWorks Singapore at The Arts Centre, Melbourne). Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Notes from Underground, Restoration (La Jolla  Playhouse), Much Ado About Nothing, The Hedda Gabler, The Misanthrope, Seven Against Thebes, Sexual Selection, The Laramie Project (La Sounds (Ann Hamilton Tower). Ms. Watson received her MFA from UC San Diego.

Lauren Wong (Assistant Stage Manager) discovered her passion for stage management during her second year of college and has been doing it ever since! Theatre credits include: Sleeping Beauty Wakes (La Jolla Playhouse); The Producers, Crimes of the Heart, Will Rogers Follies, Master Class (Hillbarn Theatre); A Man, His Wife, and His Hat, The Hot l Baltimore, Kasimir and Karoline (UCSD). She holds a BA in Psychology with a Minor in Theatre from UC San Diego.

Last seen at the NYMF festival in 'Goin' Down Swingin''. Broadway: Monty Python's SPAMALOT, Good Vibrations. National tours/Regional: SPAMALOT (Helen Hayes nomination), Goodspeed Opera House, Denver Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Bay Street Theatre, Fulton Opera House. TV: Sex and the City, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, Hope & Faith, Haute & Bothered.  

Thomas Poarch (SAG/AFTRA, AEA, WGAE): former Peace Corps English teacher (Africa), cowboy line dancer/DJ, magazine research editor, Notary Public, (but still) son of a preacher man. Actor/writer/producer with numerous TV, film, theater and commercial credits, he regularly appears as the dad in Nick@Nite's branded interstitial series,Home Court, and has co-starred on Gossip Girl (CW), Blue Bloods (CBS), One Life To Live (ABC), As The World Turns (CBS), All My Children (ABC), plus the TV pilots, Titans of Gefa (starring with Hal Ozsan & Finola Hughes), and Wiseguys, currently being pitched in Hollywood. For the past five years, he has played "Principal Snelgrove" in the off-Broadway hit, The Awesome 80's Prom, and his original webseries, brosephs.com, has been featured online and was presented by the WGAE for the US Senate Judiciary Committee promoting new media entertainment. More at thomaspoarch.com

“Prudy/Female Authority Figure” in the first national tour of Hairspray; “Mazeppa” in Gypsy with Patti LuPone Ravinia (Chicago), “Margaret/Violet u/s” in the first national tour of 9 to 5 New York: Mahida’s Extra Key to Heaven(Edna) at Playwright’s Theater of New Jersey, “Ellie” in Glimpses of the Moon at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room; "Widow Corney" in Oliver! John Engeman Theater; "Woman 1" in Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden.  Tours: Scrooge with Richard Chamberlain; Side By Side By Sondheim, the Middle-East; and the “Baker’s Wife” in Into the Woods.  World premieres:Winesburg, Ohio (at Steppenwolf) and Pulp both with About Face Theatre; Blissfield and God and Country (“Creon”) at the Tony award winning Victory Gardens Theater; and Muscle (by James Lapine, William Finn and Ellen Fitzhugh) at Pegasus Players.  You may have killed her in Grand Theft Auto 4.  Founding member of the Sweat Girls (www.sweatgirls.org) and a proud member of Actor’s Equity.  Thanks to Mom and Dad and the Krasny Office!

Stephanie Fittro is filled with joy- and jelly!- to be part of this show. Her credits include: Kate/Chutney in "Legally Blonde" on Broadway, Joujou in  "The Merry Widow" at Met Opera, Anybodys in the 50th Anniversary tour of "West Side Story" directed by Alan Johnson,  Mandy in the comedy "Jesus and Mandy" by Eric Bernat and Robin Carrigan, National Tours of "Hairspray" and "Carousel", Yale Rep, Irish Rep, City Center and The Berkshire Fringe

With a career spanning over a decade, Ms. Wren has

performed in numerous stage productions, cabarets, corporate events, in two national commercials (Dragon Ball Z and Io Digital Cable) and in television and film (most recently, in the Maui-based film Get a Job, starring Hawaiian musician, Willie K.).  She has appeared in the New York productions of Jeffrey Sweet’s Unexpected Guest, The Wild Party (The Gallery Players), Commedia Del' Artemisia and The Man Who Laughs (both with The Stolen Chair Theatre Company), Medusa and The Amazing Colossal Thing (both in the Vital Signs Festival), and Granola! The Musical  (NY International Fringe Festival). Recent roles include Beth in Indian Summer and Debbie in Debbie Guts the Kitchen (for the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop), Kayla in the 2012 New York workshop of Crazy Tony’s, Player 1 in Providence: A Musical Comedy at NYC's Richmond Shepherd Theatre, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at the Tent Theatre, 8 Track: The Sounds of the Seventies at the Human Race Theatre Company, Marilyn Monroe in the 2011 New York workshop of Hollywood Wax and the demo of the new romantic musical Lilly. In addition to her acting work, Jennifer produced and hosted the long-running Manhattan open-mic series Big Night Out, a project that featured the new work of composers writing for the musical theatre and is currently working on multiple producing projects (including the video PSA series, I am a Grown Woman).  Jennifer is a proud member of Actor's Equity, SAG/AFTRA and the TUTS Adventurers Club. Thanks and love to her dangerously handsome husband, Jon Campbell, her wonderful manager, Christopher Silveri (Prestige Mngmt) and her fantastic agent, John Shea (Frontier Booking). www.jenniferwren.info